Thursday, June 10, 2010

Topical post of the day

At present, much of the world's attention is trained on that most unifying and hostility-filled of sporting events: the World Cup. Analysis and commentary abound; I even came across this article that describes 32 of the teams in terms of songs by The Beatles. Knowing next to nothing about professional soccer, I can't say how apt any of the selections are. You'll have to be the judge.

Excerpt:
Authors Steven D. Stark & Harrison Stark also did something a little different in their book World Cup 2010: The Indespensible Guide to Soccer and Geopolitics. The father-and-son team devote a chapter to each of the 32 World Cup teams, including a line that reads simply “Beatles Song That Best Describes the Team.”

What I like most about this feature is that there’s no subsequent explanation of how or why that song was chosen as best describing that team. In some cases it’s obvious (England) in other not so much (South Korea). But each team’s designated Beatles song gives you pause for thought at the very least. Here’s the complete list, copied from the book with the kind permission of Steven D. Stark. A podcast interview with Harrison Stark follows the list.


Also, the article called to mind this piece about The Beatles as the four professional tennis majors.

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